How Many Chinese Characters Do You Know

It volition only take xi minutes to read this postal service!

Learning to read Chinese characters is something that many students of Chinese, who frequently simply begin learning to speak, are reluctant to show involvement in. I was one of those 'students' if I tin can fifty-fifty telephone call myself that, who started to larn Chinese out of necessity. Once I got over the idea that learning to read Chinese was incommunicable, I realized how much easier my life had get in Cathay, and how liberating it was to read fifty-fifty just a handful of Chinese characters.

Of course, no one's suggesting it's an 'easy' journey. In that location are enough of avenues to go downwardly before being able to read, and beneath are some of the 'stages' you might want to visit while learning to read Chinese characters.

Before starting to read, you need to decide whether you'll learn to read simplified or traditional Chinese characters. The chances are that yous'll automatically choose to acquire simplified characters since this is the written language used in mainland Red china. After all, they are 'simplified.' However, don't forget to take a wait at traditional characters, especially afterwards down the line.

First…

UNDERSTAND HOW CHARACTERS WORK

Let me take you back to 2011 when I kickoff arrived in Red china. I had no intention of learning to read Chinese characters because back then, written Chinese looked like this:

Zip to several (too many) years later, when I eventually allowed myself to exist introduced to the thought of Chinese characters. Beneath, I will outline a few 'steps' you lot can get through to commencement recognizing and reading Chinese characters. Only for now, I'm going to establish some general 'rules' for reading a Chinese character.

Chinese characters are pictures

Chinese characters are fabricated up of small pictures on an elementary level, some literal while others are quite abstract.

Chinese characters can exist 'broken down' into split parts

As mentioned above, Chinese characters are made up of pocket-sized pictures that make a total graphic symbol. These 'separate parts' each take their own pregnant or pronunciation.

The separate parts have their ain meaning

In every character, in that location is at to the lowest degree i 'function' that suggests the 'meaning' of a character. Sometimes, in that location is more one' function' of a Chinese character that suggests meaning, and these are often part of a more than complex and abstract idea.

One 'part' provides pronunciation

At to the lowest degree ane' office' of a character helps the reader know how to speak the character. This 'part' is oft on the right-hand side of a graphic symbol.

Balance is important in a character

The balance in a character can help us read, every bit it allows the 'breakup' of a character.

These are just guidelines, and as you learn to read more Chinese characters, you'll find many that don't fit this rule.

START WITH PICTOGRAPH CHARACTERS

When I commencement started learning to read Chinese characters, my teacher get-go introduced me to characters known as pictographs. These are characters that basically look like the object'south name, making them a. fun to learn and b.easier to remember.

Pictographs or pictograms were the first Chinese characters that prove objects in their nearly rudimentary form. Although some pictographs have changed from their original bone oracle characters, most are still related to the word they depict.

The following are examples of pictograph characters:

I doubtable that at first glance, you may not make the connections, only one time you lot learn their meanings, you'll be face-palming with an 'oh, yeah!'

What did I tell you?

Well, that's the reaction I had anyway, and the realization that Chinese characters had a meaning that I could really understand was ane of the reasons why I stuck with learning to read Chinese.

You can get started learning pictographs in ' Larn to Read with these 20 Chinese Pictographs'.

The reason why I recommend learning pictographs first is that many of them are too radicals, which you also need to know. Of course, you can larn radicals offset, but pictographs are an first-class 'unscary' introduction to Chinese characters that served me well!

LEARN RADICALS

A significant step of learning to read Chinese characters is to understand radicals. No, not the revolutionary type, the ones that nosotros like to call the 'building-blocks' of Chinese characters. Learning radicals is probably the next best step because after learning the pictographs, characters brainstorm to get bigger and slightly more complex, just NOT impossible!

There are approximately 214 radicals in Chinese, which may seem a lot. Even so, one time you lot take learned around one-quarter of these radicals, y'all might want to continue learning the rest simultaneously with the characters in the pace below.

Radicals generally provide y'all with the 'meaning' of a grapheme, or sometimes the pronunciation. When I say 'meaning,' there are times when this will only be a mere hint, and the origins of these characters (depending on the person) may need to be studied in more detail in order to understand it fully. It often helps to wait at the traditional version to see the origins of a character.

For example, the simplified grapheme 东 (dōng) meaning 'east' doesn't really help the states find significant, whereas looking at the traditional character, 東 volition aid you deduce meaning and create a story.

Suppose you find the origins of characters fascinating. In that example, I really recommend taking a expect at the Fun with Chinese Graphic symbol book serial that breaks down characters, often considering Chinese culture and going dorsum to the bone oracle where possible.

I don't think that it's necessarily imperative to look at the origins of a grapheme to help you lot remember it. You can use other methods to assist you read characters, such equally this 'story' method.

COMBINED IDEOGRAPHS AND Abstract CHARACTERS

Once you lot've learned some pictographs, you'll soon exist able to put some of them together (or break them apart) to learn more circuitous characters, known as 会意 (huì yì) combined Ideographs or 'meeting of ideas.' These are characters that combine two or more pictographs or ideographs to make a new grapheme.

These are the almost enjoyable characters to learn, as in that location is oftentimes interesting (and sometimes entertaining) logic behind their creation.

This is also the most natural progression of study and learning some of the more than avant-garde radicals.

Build on the pictographs and radicals that y'all're studying to acquire these compound characters.

You tin learn more about pictographs, combined ideographs, and the other types of Chinese characters here.

PRONUNCIATION ON THE RIGHT SIDE

As I mentioned in the five steps at the beginning of my postal service, a Chinese character also tells u.s.a. how to pronounce the character, which is an essential part of learning to read.

Once you've built upwardly several characters in your' banking concern,' you'll soon be able to take a adept stab at 'guessing' the pronunciation of a grapheme.

Characters that combine pictographs and phonetics are known as 形声 (xíng shēng) or Formative-Phonetic characters.

You'll probably find that some radicals human action more often than not as the 'determinative' part of the character, such as 木 the tree radical. In contrast, others appear mainly for the pronunciation, like the 工 (gōng) radical.

It'due south fair to say there are some tricksters out at that place that will only provide you with a 'hint' of how to pronounce the character.

For example, some characters have very similar pronunciation:

The pronunciation of 任 rèn is 壬 rén. The but difference is a slight change from the second tone to the fourth tone (larn more most tones here).

Nevertheless, there are examples such as 部 bù, that has the 阝 fù audio as its pronunciation.

Once yous've started to read Chinese characters, remembering them all can become a challenge! At that place are several methods below that y'all can effort to make reading and remembering characters a niggling easier!

CREATE MNEMONICS

Equally mentioned earlier, as Chinese characters are fabricated up of small 'pictures,' it is easier to create 'stories' around a character. You tin can be as creative or as literal as y'all want with these mnemonics, as they're your personal method of remembering a character.

This reminds me of a game I used to play when I was educational activity English, which involves the student rolling several dice with tiny pictures on each face instead of numbers. The student then has to create a story based on these pictures.

Why not requite it a go?

LOOK TO BIGRAMS INSTEAD OF Unmarried CHARACTERS

You might non have come beyond 'bigrams' before, simply these are 2-character combinations that makeup 'words' in Chinese. Although some words are single characters, a bigram offers more clarification to the pregnant.

For example, 会 (huì) has many meanings, including 'tin can,' 'to see' and 'union.'

To clarify the meaning of 会 (huì), take a wait at the bigrams that comprise the character:

社会 (shè huì) society

不会 (bù huì) unlikely

会议 (huì yì) meeting

This makes learning bigrams more applied AND easier, as yous don't need to struggle to understand the meaning behind a grapheme that has footling meaning!

Acquire more about studying bigrams.

322 Digital Chinese Discussion Flashcards (two-Character Bigrams) – Simplified Chinese with Pinyin

$5.00
The Official Written Chinese Bigrams Poster

$v.00

Cull A STUDY PATH

If y'all're just studying for fun, you may not want to choose a 'path' and continue to learn along the route you're on now. Still, studying a course or specific field of characters may provide you lot with more management.

HSK

One of the more popular systems to follow is HSK, an exam organization of vi levels. Beginning with HSK 1, you tin can written report characters in chunks, which is perfect for beginners as you're too learning characters used in everyday life.

All the HSK vocabulary lists are free to study and review, and you lot tin can utilise information technology to learn Chinese characters fifty-fifty if you choose non to have an examination.

Well-nigh Common Characters / Almost Mutual Bigrams

An alternate study method is to follow MIT'south listing of nearly common Chinese characters found in print, which is peachy if you're only learning to read.

The Official Written Chinese Character Learning Poster

$5.00
The Official Written Chinese Learning Poster – 2nd Edition (522 – 1042 characters)

$5.00

Do y'all accept a method for how to read Chinese characters? Delight share it with us below!

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Source: https://www.writtenchinese.com/how-to-read-chinese-characters-a-beginners-guide/